Ashburton CollegeA $20 million-plus rebuild is on the cards for Ashburton College, due to an ageing campus and skyrocketing roll.

The school and Ministry of Education could incorporate the neighbouring former community pool site to form a newly expanded campus.

Four classroom blocks comprise the majority of the school. They were built in the 1960s and do not meet modern learning environment expectations.

At the same time the school has some leaky buildings.

Its roll is rapidly increasing due to growth in Mid Canterbury, including increasing numbers entering from surrounding primary schools. The roll is now about 1220, and expected to reach 1600 within 10 years. Principal Ross Preece said the ministry had acknowledged the necessity of developing the school site, and now the school was waiting to hear back on how it planned to address it.

“So we are waiting to hear,” he said. “It’s very dependent on funding being available.”

The availability of building funds was dependent on demand from other school sites.

Others taking priority could include the likes of Kaikoura which had lost its gym in last year’s earthquake.

The ministry could demolish and replace one block at a time, and it would be up to the school and the ministry to agree on a design.

The four blocks were state-of-the-art in their day, but are now ageing with a wide range of issues.

These include protruding skylights which are beginning to leak, low renovation potential due to a solid concrete block structure, no fluidity in terms of combining classroom spaces, and centre concrete courtyards which are impractical due to being too hot in summer and too cold in winter.

The site also comprises prefab buildings, some of which have leaking issues.

By Susan Sandys © The Ashburton Guardian - 23 February 2017